Oh, sure, this’ll hold up. No way the real Doc Ock won’t inevitably come back and replace this one. With purple hair, even. 1995! Can’t wait to see this issue’s Overpower cards. Will it be 2 of the same one again? Seems likely. JM DeMatteis actually writes this one in full, no scripter, for the first time in a few months, Angel Medina provides guest pencils, Randy Emberlin & Larry Mahlstedt ink and Bob Sharen colors. In this era, “cyberspace” began to creep into comics. Like any other emerging technology, it was quickly turned into a gimmick by people who had literally no idea what it was or how it worked (A trend going back at least to atomic radiation making all these heroes in the first place). I read a lot of really dopey comics about “cyberspace” back then, but none stupider than the type of thing beginning this issue as…
I am far more willing to believe a man can stick to walls than I am… whatever this is. “Fire the probe at that cyber-door! See if you can rescue the princess while you’re there!” Sheesh, man.
Ben very nearly gets “lost in cyberspace,” but Seward is able to pull him out. These guys are treating AOL like it’s Neal Stephenson’s Snowcrash. The whole system overloads and explodes, Ben barely diving Seward out of the way. Then we cut to Spider-Man recapping how he almost killed his wife over the last 2 issues when he’s interrupted by said wife.
Medina’s relatively new on the scene here, as far as I know. He’s gonna wind up working on various things, including Todd McFarlane’s Spawn, before winding up the regular penciler of a Spider-Man title in 2007. Ya never know where life’s gonna take you. Anyway, as Spider-Man irresponsibly swings his pregnant wife around, The New Doctor Octopus wanders around her homebase singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” which surprises and slightly unnerves her henchmen. No typical goons, these, her guys are scientists.
That’s one long human body. She must be 15 feet tall! Compared to a lot of guys in this era, Medina’s a pretty solid cartoonist, but that perspective gag didn’t work too well.
Boy oh boy. “I’m downloading a shareware version of Commander Keen right into my brain, Brucknerr!” “I’m participating in an AOL chat about punk music with my brain, Brucknerr!” “I’m taking the next half hour to download a 12 second .wav file of a quote from MST3K directly into my brain, Brucknerr!” I may be projecting. Unlike anyone working on this story, I was on the internet in 1995, and several years before, and this all seemed so ridiculous to me, even then. Tell me Superman has powers because he’s an alien, and ok, it’s not like there’s any way to disprove that. Tell people in the 60s radiation can turn a man into a Hulk, and they maybe don’t know enough to protest. Tell me this internet nonsense is happening in 1995 and I just can’t hang. Doc Ock mentions Otto Octavius was her mentor as she tells her lil buddy that their organization must be “the sole winners in the techno-wars!” Haha, ok. “We shall control the flow of demo copies of Doom!” Ironically, I may have shared my disdain for this nonsense in the AOL Marvel Comics Chat Room. One time Kurt Busiek was there taking questions about Untold Tales of Spider-Man, it was fun. This is a very distracting issue. Maybe I can keep it to a minimum from here. Back at the other lab, Seward is looking at some of the files they downloaded, and they bear a symbol that looks like an octopus.
Another very long person! Seward begins probing Peter’s mind for any more trouble, while out in the city, some of Ock’s goons unleash a “virtual reality bomb” that makes everyone on the street think they’re in “the Jurassic age.” Man, this is vexing me. But it only lasts a few moments before shorting out. Still, the test is successful, and the goons call home to say they can begin construction of the real bomb. Speaking of bombs, later, Peter & MJ are having a fancy rooftop dinner to celebrate the fact that he’s been declared post-hypnotic-murder-suggestion-free! A medical first, I assume!
For all his love of gloom and misery, DeMatteis was pretty adept at sweet stuff like this. With the whole team convinced they were really bundling Peter & MJ off to live happily ever after, they could afford to really play up how happy and hopeful they are at this point. They’re getting the fairytale ending. Until they’re not. Elsewhere, Trainer is trying to break the encryption on Ock’s files when she just strolls into his office. Scarlet Spider was hiding above, apparently waiting for this, but she knows he’s coming and activates a personal force field he can’t get through.
Not exactly “The Green Goblin is my best friend’s dad,” but I guess that’s the sort of thing they were shooting for. “Remember that classic villain you loved that we needlessly killed? Well, I’m WAY better than him!” Just what everyone wanted. A permanent change, yessir. Otto Octavius is never coming back. And that, rather unceremoniously, is it for JM DeMatteis’ time on ASM. After a few months only plotting, he comes back to try to make up for the terrible decision to kill Doc Ock with this jobber replacement, and he’s out. For a few years, anyway.